The Aspen Institute Homeland Security Group Announces Its Launch

WASHINGTON, Sept. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --The Aspen Institute's Homeland Security Program announces the launch of the "Aspen Homeland Security Group" this Thursday, September 15, 2011, from 12:00-1:30 p.m. at our One Dupont Circle offices in Washington, DC. The event will feature Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, and Aspen Homeland Security Group co-chairs, former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Director, President, and CEO of the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars and former Congresswoman Jane Harman, in a conversation moderated by The Washington Post's David Ignatius. Also attending the event and participating in the discussion will be various members of the Aspen Homeland Security Group. (The complete membership list can be found below and online at http://www.aspeninstitute.org/policy-work/homeland-security/Aspen%20Homeland%20Security%20Group.)

"I am honored to serve as co-chair of the Aspen Homeland Security Group. This group of dedicated and experienced homeland security and counterterrorism veterans provides a unique forum to make recommendations and raise awareness to the ongoing and ever evolving security challenges of our time," said Chertoff, now Co-Founder and Managing Principal of The Chertoff Group.

Modeled on the longstanding foreign policy-focused Aspen Strategy Group, the Aspen Homeland Security Group is a bipartisan group of former government officials and policy experts in the field of homeland security/counterterrorism who will provide recommendations to Secretary Napolitano and other relevant policymakers.

"With the tenth anniversary of 9/11 now behind us, it is a time to look ahead to the homeland security/counterterrorism challenges of the future. How will the terror threat change? What new vulnerabilities might lie around the corner? Is the government yet optimally organized to address these threats and vulnerabilities? And, recognizing government's limitations, especially in these times of budget austerity, are private institutions and individual citizens yet fully empowered to provide maximum support? The Aspen Homeland Security Group is intended to help Secretary Napolitano and other policymakers think through these critical issues in the post-bin Laden era," said Clark Ervin, the group's executive director; Director of the Institute's Homeland Security Program; and the first Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security.

Co-Chairs

Michael ChertoffFormer SecretaryDepartment of Homeland SecurityChairman and Co-founderThe Chertoff Group

Richard ClarkeFormer National Coordinator for Security and CounterterrorismFormer Special Advisor to the President for Cyber SecurityPartnerGood Harbor Consulting

P.J. CrowleyFormer Assistant Secretary for Public AffairsDepartment of StateFormer Special Assistant to the President for National Security AffairsGeneral Omar N. Bradley Chair in Strategic LeadershipDickinson School of Law, Penn State University

Suzanne SpauldingFormer Assistant General CounselCentral Intelligence AgencyFormer Executive DirectorNational Commission on TerrorismFormer Executive DirectorCommission to Assess the Organization of the Federal Government to Combat Proliferation of Weapons of Mass DestructionPrincipalBingham Consulting Group LLC

Guy C. Swann IIILieutenant General, US Army Commanding GeneralUS Army North (Fifth Army)

Fran TownsendFormer Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and CounterterrorismSenior Vice PresidentWorldwide Government, Legal, and Business Affairs, MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc.

Juan ZarateFormer Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Adviser for Combating Terrorism Senior AdviserTransnational Threats Project and Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies

Philip ZelikowFormer Executive DirectorNational Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United StatesDirector of Graduate Studies for the Department of HistoryUniversity of Virginia

About The Aspen Institute

The Aspen Institute's Homeland Security Program works to heighten public awareness as to the nation's continued vulnerability to terrorism, and to persuade the nation to take the necessary steps to close the gap between how secure we should be and how secure we actually are. For more information, please visit www.aspeninstitute.org/policy-work/homeland-security.

The Aspen Institute mission is twofold: to foster values-based leadership, encouraging individuals to reflect on the ideals and ideas that define a good society, and to provide a neutral and balanced venue for discussing and acting on critical issues. The Aspen Institute does this primarily in four ways: seminars, young-leader fellowships around the globe, policy programs, and public conferences and events. The Institute is based in Washington, DC; Aspen, Colorado; and on the Wye River on Maryland's Eastern Shore. It also has offices in New York City and an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.